Last month, my column “How might I tax thee? Let me count the ways.” presented a litany of new taxes, bonds and fees that were being considered in San Diego County. We follow, this month, with an exploration of blunders, back-alley deals, unnecessary legal expenses and failed financial management that helped lead to a gross shortage of funds to cover normal municipal expenses. We ask: How do we trust them to clean up their act before hitting on the public to cover the impact of their misdeeds.
Published in the RB News Journal and Poway News Chieftain on April 18, 2024
How shall I trust thee? A Sequel
As I expected, the response to last month’s column on taxes, fees, and bonds garnered wide support. Why would the general populous embrace sending more money to the government? That, of course, is a preposterous question. All governments are supported, in some way, by the people. When there is not enough money, the people bear the cost in lower services or inferior infrastructure. At least, that’s what our government leaders tell us.
As documented last month, our city, county, and school agencies are pushing and fighting for a place in line to grab some more of our money, threatening to reduce services and infrastructure that are already acknowledged to be sub-standard. And we are being asked to trust that they will use this money better this time, with nothing to demonstrate that they have learned anything from their past errors or misdeeds.
What’s the saying? “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” In a clear illustration of naivety, our governments expect that we will answer the call for more taxes and fees and that the people believe this time will be different. Well, maybe not. Most of the recent tax and bond requests have failed to garner sufficient votes and the current stream of public commentary has not indicated a significant change of heart.
In fact, the only chance for these pending propositions and measures is that the bar will be lowered for passage. Bills proposing such change are in the works in Sacramento. So agencies are proceeding to propose the taxes/bonds with the hope that they can pass with as low as a 50% vote.
With options between higher taxes or lower services, the people have little choice. But why are we not looking at a third option? Why are we not demanding that the agencies have better financial performance? Why are the good people of San Diego willing to accept government practices that would put a private business into bankruptcy or incarceration?
Politics is not part of my skill set. But Business and Financial Management are. Viewing the performance of most of the local agencies through a business lens, we see a litany of failures, many of which are repeated, as if nothing went wrong before. Most of these failures have been enormously costly, with taxpayers picking up the bill.
In San Diego, the city, already carrying the inglorious title of “Enron by the Sea,” has topped that by making the real estate blunder of the century (at 101 Ash Street), only to be repeated by buying hotels (to address the homeless issues) at inflated prices. In both cases, the city was not only duped on pricing, but accepted guidance from “experts” that were profiting from their “advice.” And what kind of nincompoop would put the city at risk by buying uninspected property?
The Mayor seems more interested in building a legacy, first by attempting to create a new grand City Center (with the Ash Street property included). This had no financing behind it and it fell flat when no one responded to the invitation to participate. Now, we are asked to turn our attention to a new grand Ocean Beach Pier, as if that is the highest on our list of needs. Can we at least get our priorities straight?
Do we actually have a business manager in San Diego? Do our agencies employ Best Practices? Are we overpaying for labor, non-competitive contracts, and non-competitive extras?
How much are we paying out in legal fees and judgments due to avoidable deaths in jails and misbehavior by Peace Officers and other government employees?
Why does the San Diego Housing Commission have 22 Vice-presidents in their organization chart? That defies all best practices in organizational design, What is this costing in excessive highly-paid positions? Is the government bloated with unnecessary patronage jobs?
It is obvious that there is a lack of performance and transparency in many of our agencies. SANDAG is an important county agency that fails to meet the public trust. Major issues occur far too often to be an accident. The latest brouhaha regarding toll collection on the South Bay Expressway reflects a long period of malfeasance and lack of transparency. The toll system contract was surely mismanaged and cost the county dearly.
All these issues reflect the absence of accountability. Money is being spent where not necessary or to cover mistakes. Is anyone ever penalized for poor performance or poor management of contracts? Are projects ever evaluated and terminated if they no longer meet expected goals?
Why is San Diego awarding huge contracts to assess street repair needs and determine a trash collection price? That information is readily available. I pay a private hauler $20 a month. Why should the city (a non-profit) be looking at way more than that? Why are they paying millions to figure it out and to “sell” the eventual pricing to the public?
The city and county have plans to add sales taxes and parcel taxes to cover budget shortages caused, at least in part, by their own performance deficiencies, or failure to apply special tax funds to original purposes. Now they want us to trust them that this time it will be different.
Due, in part, to current state funding policies, shrinking attendance, and a huge maintenance backlog, the Poway Unified School District, also, is considering adding to its bond obligations. Since PUSD has current obligations that stretch out to 2051, any additional bonds will be added to our property tax bills. They are not replacing expiring bonds.
Our governments have let us down. Between back-alley deals, lack of transparency, poor fiscal management, lack of due diligence, and overall poor business performance, San Diego City and County and PUSD have failed to provide needed services and have squandered taxpayer dollars.
I expect that the voters would like to see corrections to these deficiencies before supporting additional tax burdens.